The regulatory framework that governs the JSE’s role as a market regulator and the compliance obligations of authorised JSE members comprises the Financial Markets Act, 2012, the JSE Rules and Directives and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001.  The regulatory activities undertaken by the JSE Market Regulation division include the monitoring of trading in the various JSE markets to identify possible market abuse and oversight of JSE members’ compliance with their regulatory obligations.

Market abuse consists of three forms of conduct prohibited in terms of the Financial Markets Act, namely -

• Insider trading;

• Prohibited trading practices (market manipulation); and

• False, misleading or deceptive statements.

The JSE Market Regulation division utilizes electronic surveillance systems to monitor and analyse trading in JSE listed securities, in order to identify potential insider trading and market manipulation.  The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (“FSCA”) is responsible for investigating potential market abuse and instituting enforcement action where appropriate.  All instances of potential insider trading and market manipulation identified by the JSE Market Regulation division that the division believes requires further investigation are referred to the FSCA for their consideration.

The FSCA regularly publishes information on the status of the market abuse investigations that it is conducting, which would include matters referred by the JSE Market Regulation division. The FSCA media releases are available on the FSCA website at: 

https://www.fsca.co.za/Pages/Media-Releases.aspx

 The JSE Market Regulation division referred the following number of potential market abuse matters to the FSCA: